Hatred
by Goldie.dk
Summary: It's their seventh year at Hogwarts, and Hermione and Malfoy have been chosen as heads. Will they be able to work so close together and still keep up their of several years standing enmity?
1. Chapter 1 Heads

None of the characters in this story are mine, they belong to J.K. Rowling! Enjoy reading. :)

**Chapter 1 – Heads**

A loud whistle came from the Hogwarts Express. It was about time to get on the train, if he wanted to get to the school this year. With slow, confident steps he walked down the platform flanked by Crabbe one his left side, Goyle on his right.

He looked at the train windows as he passed by them, watching the mixture of familiar and unfamiliar faces, and every time his silver-grey eyes met the frightened eyes of an unknown first year student, he quickly assessed him or her. Most of them got busy turning their eyes away from this scary seventh year boy, with the unpleasant smirk and the judging glance.

Draco Malfoy moved on, unaffected by the effect he had on the children. But all of a sudden, something made him stop and stare as if he had been hypnotized: The head and torso of a seventeen-year-old girl appeared from one of the windows.

Her thick, brown hair was flowing in the wind and the smoke from the train's smokestack surrounded her. She smiled as she reached out for her parents on the platform, to hold their hands one last time, before the train would set going.

Draco was paralyzed. And it was scaring the hell out of him, because he knew this girl; it was Granger! GRANGER! The mudblood! He had seen her a million times, and he hated her like poison. So why in the world wasn't he able to move? Why did he find himself thinking how beautiful she looked?

A yell brought him out of his trance: "Draco! The train is starting! Come ON!" Goyle pushed him in the back, and ran after Crabbe, who was already on his way into the train. Draco ran after them, looking back at where she'd been; she was gone.

Hermione dropped down on the seat opposite Harry and Ron and gave them a smile. "So," she said. "How was your summer?"

"Awful!" Harry groaned. "The Dursleys will be the death of me! Dudley has been a nightmare. He got a new baseball bat for his birthday, and I tell you: He hasn't used it for baseball once!" He pulled up his sleeve and showed them a huge bruise on his upper arm.

The other two looked terrified. "Good thing you won't have to stay with them after finishing this school year, huh?" Ron said. "With all your gold, you can easily by a nice little house in Hogsmeade, if you want." He had a dreamy look on his face.

"Nah, I was actually thinking of something a little closer to your house," Harry said, and winked at his best friend. "And you can of course come live with me, if you want. We'll buy a huge house. Or a mansion! Or a castle! Bigger than Hogwarts!" They all laughed.

They had a long and amusing talk about their craziest dreams for the future, and they didn't even realize how far away from London they were, until the lady with the candy trolley knocked on the door to their compartment, and asked them if they wanted to buy something. They suddenly realized that they were starving all three, so they bought two pumpkin pies each, and a bunch of chocolate frogs.

After swallowing the last bite of pie, Hermione decided that she had to tell them what she'd been holding back all afternoon. She looked out of the window, and then turned her eyes to her two friends. Normally she would have been happy and exited about the news she'd got this summer, but not this time. This was different. This time there was a snag in it.

"Look guys, there's something I have to tell you." She took a deep breath. "I've been chosen to be head girl this year."

The boys opened their eyes wide. "Wow, Hermione, that's great news!" Harry said, but then he discovered the bitterness of her face. "What's wrong?"

"Well…" Hermione said. "The head boy is… Malfoy."

Ron looked sceptically on her. "No way…" he said.

"Oh, I'm sure it will be… alright Ron." Hermione's voice didn't sound convincing at all.

Just then Malfoy opened the door.

"Talk of the devil," Ron muttered.


	2. Chapter 2 A Long Trip

**Chapter 2 – A long trip**

He walked down through the train, looking into every compartment he passed to find the right one. There she was, of course together with Potter and Weasley. He felt how his heart throbbed when he saw her. He gave his chest an angry stare, and opened the door.

"Talk of the devil," Weasley muttered. Draco scowled at him.

"What do you want?" Potter said with a voice like ice.

"Talk to Granger," Draco sneered, and turned his attention towards Granger. This caused a tremendous buzzing in his ears. 'STOP IT!' He thought. It didn't help.

"We'll have to talk about our duties as heads," he said to Granger. "There's a compartment for us. And we're obviously…" he made a wry face. "We're obviously going to go to the school together when we arrive. So get going Granger!"

With that he turned around and slammed the door.

Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "I guess I have to go. See you at school." She took her luggage and left them. Outside Malfoy was waiting for her.

He was standing with his back to her, looking out of the window. She caught herself thinking how handsome his neck was. Quickly she was shaking the thought off. "Pull yourself together!" she thought. "It's Malfoy for heaven's sake!"

He turned around, his silver-like eyes looking into her chestnut-brown ones. None of them seemed to be able to break the sudden connection, until Malfoy was shaking his head so that the bright, platinum blonde hair flew around the pale, attractive face and got a little messy. Was he blushing? It seemed to her, that his cheeks had a touch of pink, but it disappeared so fast, that she didn't even know if it had been there at all.

Hermione felt her hands tremble, and she was quick to fold them behind her back, before he saw it. "We should get going," she said.

"Yeah, what are you waiting for, Granger!?" he snarled, and turned around to walk down the hall to their carriage in front, right behind the locomotive.

The compartment was nice, better looking than the other ones, and the seats were more comfortable. On the table were bowls with candy and fresh fruit.

Hermione took an orange and sat down. Malfoy sat opposite her, taking a bite of a bright green apple.

"So," she said, and found the letter from Dumbledore, telling all the things she needed to know about being a head girl. She laid it on the table, and started peeling the orange. "First things first? What do we do when we get to the school?"

With an uninterested sigh, he took the letter from the table and read: "'When the heads arrive at the station, there will be a carriage for them alone, to take them to the school as fast as possible. When they get there, they will meet the teachers in the Great Hall for further information.' Well, that's easy, don't you think?" He threw the paper back to the table, put his feet up on the seat and took another bite of the apple.

"Hey!" Hermione said offended. He clearly considered her stupid. "What was it you wanted to talk about anyway!?"

"Don't know. The letters from headmaster told us to meet in the train and talk." He still didn't seem to have any interest in talking to her.

"Then let's talk, Malfoy!"

He rolled his eyes at her, but turned his feet back on the floor again, and faced her. "Okay, Granger," he sneered. "Speak out!"

Hermione growled annoyed, but said nothing, and turned her head to the window, looking out into the darkness. This was going to be a very long trip!


	3. Chapter 3 Arriving

**Chapter 3 – Arriving**

Draco fastened his green and silver head boy badge to his cloak and saw out of the corner of his eye Granger doing the same with her own red and golden one.

The train stopped with a jerk, and they hurried taking their luggage and get off the train. Filch was waiting for them at the platform.

"Head boy and girl?" he asked through his brown, rotten teeth. "This way!"

They followed after him to a small carriage with to black horses hitched up in front. The two students got into the carriage, Filch climbed on to the driver's seat.

The room inside the carriage was narrow, and they had to sit very close together, to make room for their luggage. Draco could feel the smell of horse, old, moth-eaten seats and then… something different. He cast a sidelong glance at Granger. 'It must be her,' he thought. She smelled like wild flowers and jasmine tea. Wonderful… 'Oh, cut it off you idiot!' he thought to himself. 'Filthy mudblood, that's what she smells of!'

They arrived at the school a few moments later, and hastened to the Great Hall. Filch would take care of their luggage.

The Great Hall was decorated with sunflowers, cereals and yellow-brown maple leaves. Hermione took a deep breath. There was a smell of autumn in there, mixed with the well-known smell of the castle. It was good to be back, even though her seventh and last year at the school might become very difficult, with Malfoy around. Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore were heading towards them, and showed them about their fields of responsibility during the welcome banquet. They were to keep an eye on the first year students, and avoid rows at and maybe especially between the tables.

The other students arrived, and Hermione and Malfoy split up to find their friends to sit with. When she found Harry and Ron, she was showered with hugs of relief, as if they'd feared for her life. "Thank God you're all right!" Harry said. "Was it horrible? Terrifying?"  
"If he did anything to harm you," Ron said shaking his fist. "I promise I'll make him pay for it!"

"I'm fine guys, I promise," she laughed, all of a sudden cheered up. "Now, let's find a seat."

The dinner was great, and fortunately, there were no fights or anything among the students, so Hermione didn't have to leave her seat between Harry and Ron to take care of head girl-stuff. Soon Malfoy was forgotten, and they spent the evening talking, laughing and filling their stomachs with every single kind of food they could think of.

Draco kept stealing glances towards the Gryffindor table all evening, and it was driving him crazy. Why couldn't he just stop looking at her? But every time he looked at something else, he felt a strong need to turn his eyes back to Granger.

She was sitting with her back to him, but even her bushy, brown hair, that she'd put up in a thick, curly ponytail with a scarlet ribbon around it, was enough to make his heart skip a beat every time she gave a toss of her head, so the ponytail danced from side to side caressing her slender shoulders.

He was dragged back to reality by Pansy Parkinson poking his shoulder. "What are you looking at?"

Damn, he had hoped that no one noticed it. "Nothing," he said with a cross tone in his voice, but he felt his eyes fly back to Granger again. Pansy saw it. "Now you did it again! You never tell me anything! Luckily, I saw what you were looking at! GRANGER!"

Draco sighed. "Pansy, Pansy, Pansy. Of course I wasn't, what would I look at that ugly mudblood for? I'm just keeping an eye on… Potter. This year I swear I'll put him in his place!"

Pansy giggled. Draco smirked; she believed him.


	4. Chapter 4 A muggleborn and a Malfoy

**Chapter 4 – A muggleborn and a Malfoy**

Hermione left Ron and Harry after the dinner. She had to see Professor McGonagall – she would show her and Malfoy to the head's common room. They were still going to sleep and do homework in their own house's common rooms and dormitories; this was just a place for them to discuss their duties and so on.

It was in one of the smaller towers on the eastern side of the castle. McGonagall stopped in front of a big relief of the Hogwarts logo, carved directly into the stone wall.

McGonagall said the password "hippogriff wing!" and the logo opened, revealing a big hole in the wall.

The room was beautifully decorated in dark red at dark green colours. There were two big armchairs, a table with two regular chairs and a fireplace. In a corner was a small kitchen.

"I hope the two of you will find it comfortable in here," she said, with a suspicious look at Malfoy.

"We sure will. Thank you Professor," Hermione answered, and McGonagall continued telling them about their basic duties and tasks as heads, and ended with: "You are to meet here at least three evenings a week, more if you find it necessary. Goodnight." She left.

Malfoy threw himself down in an armchair and lit the fireplace with a swing of his wand.

Hermione took a closer look at the kitchen, found a kettle and put some water on. Then she looked at Malfoy over her shoulder. "Would you like a cup of tea?" she asked.

He made a wry face at her and sneered: "Not if you made it Granger! Your mudblood would just poison it."

She growled loudly. "I'm sorry your highness, I was just trying to be _kind_! God damn it Malfoy! We're going to work together the whole year, so maybe we could just be a _little_ nice to each other!?" she screamed.

That seemed to shock Malfoy. He looked up at her with big eyes, and then he sighed. "All right, I'd like some tea." She turned her back at him, and she actually thought she heard him mutter an ashamed "sorry", but she wasn't sure.

Draco shook his head. What was happening? Why did he suddenly give in to her? Before this year he wouldn't have cared whether she screamed, cried or snarled at him, now he actually felt a sting of bad conscience about being so mean. What was wrong with him?

They drank their tea in silence. Then they agreed to meet in the common room every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings, and after that they muttered 'goodnight', and went their separate ways.

"So," Harry said, as Hermione sank heavily into one of the Gryffindor common room's big, soft armchairs between him and Ron, that evening. "What's it like? Being head girl, I mean?"

"Oh, it's all right," Hermione answered. "I have to keep an eye on the students, patrol the hallways once in a while, and so on, and assist the teachers when it's needed. Help them with less important paperwork, for instance."

Harry looked surprised. "I didn't know you had to do paperwork."

"They do," Ron said, before Hermione had time to answer him. "How do you think Percy became so good at it?"

Harry and Ron laughed, and Hermione smiled vaguely. They stayed up talking for a while and then they went to bed. She was glad that Harry and Ron didn't ask her about Malfoy.

The months rolled on. There kept being a thick barrier of ice between Hermione and Malfoy. And still she felt her heart beat faster when she looked into his silver streaked eyes, sometimes she even blushed.

Nevertheless they spent more and more time together. The life as heads of the school was getting hard. The teachers gave them a lot of paper work to do, and they had to keep track of who had a detention with which teacher what day at what time, etc., etc.

One day Draco noticed that Granger was very quiet and kept looking into the table. She looked sad, and he got a reluctant feeling of compassion.

Against his will he opened his mouth to speak to her.

"Are you okay?"

"What do you care?" she sobbed. She had tears in her eyes.

"Well, you can't just… sit there looking like that!" he said in a hard voice. It only made the tears leave her eyes and run down her cheeks. "No," he said. "Don't cry. I'm sorry!" he found a white, monogrammed hankie and handed it over to her. "Please tell me what's wrong." What was he doing!?

Hermione received the handkerchief with a piece of embroidery with the letters "DM" on it and dried her eyes with it. Then she looked up, and saw an unfamiliar kindness and softness in his eyes. "Please tell me what's wrong," he said.

She snuffled. "You wouldn't understand it anyway," she said.

He raised his eyebrow. "Oh, of course not, 'cause I'm the bad guy, who's never ever sad about anything."

She blushed. "I didn't mean…"

He brushed her off with a wave of his hand. "You'd feel better if you told me," he persuaded.

"Well… all right. I got a letter from Victor – you know, Victor Krum – this morning. He… he's found another girl friend." She burst into tears. "It's-it's not like we were all that close, you know, I haven't seen him since the summer holiday between fourth and fifth year, but…" she snuffled. "I just thought… you know… that we still had something together…" She cried too much to say anymore. What was she doing?! Why was she telling _him_ all these things!?

If it wasn't because she was hiding her face in her hands, she would have seen that Malfoy, like herself, didn't really know what to do.

Finally she felt the weight of his hand on her back. And then he asked the absolute last question she'd have expected him to ask: "Do you love him?"

She considered it for a while. "I… I don't really know," she sniffed. "It was just so nice you know… to have someone…"

"Hey, then you'll soon get over him, trust me. If he found someone else, he was a jerk anyway. I felt the same about Pansy Parkinson. It was nice to have someone, but I realized that it wasn't more than that, and that just isn't enough. All she's ever done to me was to like me."

Hermione didn't know what to say. Here, right in front of her, Draco Malfoy sat, asking her to trust him. She wasn't even sure that was possible. AND he'd told her about his feelings, his relationship with Pansy. For the first time in her life, she was glad he was there.

She had no idea what to say, so she just sniffed out the first thing that popped up in her mind: "You two… aren't together anymore?"

He blushed a bit as if it just dawned on him what he'd said. "Yeah, I broke up this summer. It doesn't matter, really." Attempting to change the subject he said: "Should I make you a cup of tea?"

She nodded, and he went to the kitchen.

His hands trembled as he poured the hot tea from the teapot into two cups. "Sugar?" he asked.

"Yes please, two pieces. And a little drop of milk."

He could tell by her voice that she didn't cry anymore. Thank God!

He took the teacups. Granger had moved from the table and was now sitting in one of the armchairs by the fire. He went over to her, at sat down in the other chair. "Here you go." He handed her the tea.

"Thanks." She sent him a shy smile, and he blushed involuntarily. God, she was beautiful. You couldn't even tell that she'd been crying. The fire illuminated her small, heart shaped face and made her skin glow. He let the thoughts fly while he looked at her, without stopping himself as he usually did when he started thinking about her.

They had been sitting there for a while in silence, drinking their tea, not knowing what to say.

After some time they'd left the common room, both looking at their own feet, feeling too embarrassed to even say goodnight. The good atmosphere between them was all of a sudden gone, as they remembered who they were: A muggleborn and a Malfoy, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin. They could never be friends, even if they wanted to.


	5. Chapter 5 Collision

**Chapter 5**** – Collision**

After that evening everything went on as it had been before; they just pretended that nothing unusual had happened, trying to be a little nicer to each other, though.

Hermione didn't tell Harry and Ron anything. She just went on as usual, helping them with their homework and listening to them talking about quidditch and other things.

A couple of weeks later as Draco, Crabbe and Goyle were walking down the hallway, Crabbe and Goyle had just started arguing about the difference between a hippogriff and a regular griffin. Normally Draco would have stopped the fight with an annoyed and intelligent answer, but today his mind was back on the evening when he was sitting with Granger by the fire. Had there been more in her eyes than just gratitude? No, of course not! What was he thinking?

Hermione walked down the hallway in her own thoughts, with Harry and Ron by her side. They were keeping themselves amused with an excited discussion about quidditch and they didn't notice that she wasn't listening.

Her thoughts were somewhere else. She was thinking about Malfoy again. She couldn't help it, but she'd actually liked him that night, and it had seemed to her that he liked her too.

'Wasn't there a glint of love in his eyes, when he looked at me by the fire?' she thought, but broke herself off. 'Of course not! He just tried to calm you down, because your crying made him feel uncomfortable!'

'To her I'm just an evil and atrocious Slytherin,' he thought.

'To him I'm just a gross, annoying mudblood,' she thought.

'Nuisance!'

'Disgusting!'

'Tormentor!'

'Know-it-all!'

'There's no way that she would ever like me!'

'There's no way that he would ever like me!'

Just as that thought left her head, she felt that she bumped into someone. She fell over and landed on her bum. "Ouch!" she squealed, and looked at the person she'd hit. "Malfoy?" she burst out.

"Granger?" he picked himself up, and before Ron or Harry got to help Hermione up from the floor, he took her hand and pulled her up.

The touch caused a rush of blood through her entire body.

"Thanks," she said. "And sorry." She laughed nervously and rubbed her butt.

"Sorry," he muttered. Then he noticed that he was still holding her hand. He quickly let go, as if he'd burned his hand. He blushed slightly. "See you," he said. Then he turned his head at Crabbe and Goyle. "Come on!"

Harry and Ron looked startled after them. "What was that all about?" Ron asked looking more confused than ever. "No 'Get out of my way, mudblood!' or 'look where you're going Granger!'. Just 'Sorry, see you'."

"Well, Ron, as you know, Malfoy and I are heads together, so we've just agreed, that we'll try to be a little nice to each other. You know; to make this year bearable." She shrugged her shoulders.

"How the hell did you sell him on that idea?!"

"Oh, you know… feminine wiles."

"'Feminine wiles'. Tsk!" Ron rolled his eyes.

To stop them from arguing, Harry said: "How come you didn't see him coming, Hermione?"

She blushed. "Well, I was… thinking." Suddenly, her shoes seemed to be very interesting.

"Thinking!?" Ron burst out. "You weren't just thinking! You were in a complete different place!"

"Well…" Hermione blushed.

Harry gave Ron a 'stop asking'- look, but he didn't get it or else he ignored it.

"What's wrong with you, Hermy?!"

"Nothing. Come on, we'll be late for McGonagall's class."


	6. Chapter 6 Comfort

**Chapter 6 – Comfort**

After the smash-up with Granger, Crabbe and Goyle kept giving him suspicious glances, when they thought he didn't notice it. They went on all through Flitwick's charms lesson, and afterwards on their way back to the Slytherin common room. At the end it irked him so much that he made a quick turn with his head, so the his eyes met Goyle's before he got to look away. "_What_…is it?!" Draco hissed and scowled from one of his henchmen to the other.

Crabbe scraped with his foot on the floor. Draco thought that he looked like an overgrown child, who'd been caught in stealing a cookie. "It's just that Granger-girl," he faltered. "How come you're suddenly being so nice to her?"

"Yeah," Goyle mumbled. "One would almost think that you two have become… friends?"

Draco looked surprised about their sudden perception, but he quickly composed himself.

Most of all he felt like saying "yes, I think we are, actually", but in stead he burst into a scornful laugh. "Granger!? Are you mad? Why would I want to be friends with that filthy, disgusting… MUDBLOOD!?"

'Because she's wonderful,' a voice within him said, but he just kept laughing. Crabbe and Goyle were convinced, and started to laugh too. The group went on, unaware of the girl who'd been hiding behind a statue representing a small, fat wizard with a handlebar moustache.

Hermione held her breath and tried to concentrate on standing still without making a single sound, and listen to the boys. Now and then she sent them a glance over the shoulder of the statue.

She couldn't really hear what they were saying, because Crabbe and Goyle both were mumbling. Then Malfoy started to laugh derisively, exclaiming: "Granger!? Are you mad? Why would I want to be friends with that filthy, disgusting… MUDBLOOD!?"

Hermione bit her lip until they were gone. Them she collapsed sobbing behind the statue.

As she entered the heads' common room that evening, Draco was sitting in one of the great armchairs doing some homework. He looked up from the book about transfiguration spells. "I've been waiting forever, Granger. Where have you…" he stopped as he spotted her eyes. They were a little red, and she had a thin, black streak of mascara down her cheek.

"What's wrong?"

She sniffled just once. Then she loudly slammed a heap of paper, briefcases and books on the table. "Nothing," she snarled. "Let's get going I really want to get it over with as fast as possible!"

"Something _is_ wrong with you. You seem angry," he objected, moving towards her. "Do you want to talk…?"

She cut him off. "No!" she sneered and opened the first briefcase. "Why don't you just stop the masquerade, Malfoy?"

"What are you talking about!?"

"You know what I'm talking about. Stop acting like you like me, we both know that you don't!"

She found a quill and started going through a journal about the students' mad pranks on the last trip to Hogsmeade.

Hermione stared fixedly at the numbers in the journal, denying herself to look up.

He didn't answer her, but after what seemed like forever, she felt a soft hand grasping her right hand, stopping her from writing. She sat stock-still, fixing her look to a point in front of her at the back wall of the room. Then she felt his hair tickle her cheek, and his breath in her ear as he whispered: "Stop writing, and come here."

Automatically her hand let go of the quill. She could feel how her entire body froze with fear.

What would he do to her? Did he know that she'd been listening to his conversation with Crabbe and Goyle? She was so afraid; you never knew what Malfoy could do.

But he just pulled her up and led her towards the armchairs. He pushed her down in one of them, and sat down opposite her. Then he just looked judging at her. "Why do you think that?" he said.

Hermione blinked a couple of tears away and whispered: "I heard you. I heard what you told Crabbe and Goyle this afternoon." She blushed.

He looked at her with something that seemed to be despair in his eyes. Then he stretched his arm out, and laid it gentle on her cheek. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I really, really am."

Draco found himself unable to make his mouth and body obey his mind. He just kept talking to her, touching her face unendingly. The only thing he really wanted to do was to comfort her; it was – after all – his fault that she was crying. But he couldn't do this! He had to stop, before anything happened…

But at the same time as all these thoughts flew through his head, his entire body felt like screaming that he needed to kiss her.

"Hermione, I…"

She looked up; directly into his eyes. "You just called me Hermione?"

She was right. What a fool he was! He blushed and cleared his throat. "I… I meant Granger!"

For the first time she smiled a little. She took his hand. They sat like that for a while; in silence.

"What were you about to say?" she asked, and made him thereby blush again.

"Uhm… Nothing! It wasn't important… Actually… I already forgot it." He could see in her eyes that she knew he was lying. But she didn't say anything.

"We… probably should get down to work, so that we won't have to sit up the whole night." She laughed nervously, let go of his hand and got up. He followed her towards the table, and took a heap of paper and a quill. Somewhere deep inside him it riled him that no more had happened between them.


	7. Chapter 7 Halloween Kisses

**Chapter 7**** – Halloween kisses**

Hermione walked through the Great Hall with quick, firm steps. In her arms she had the last pumpkin for the Halloween decoration. She walked all the way through the hall, and stopped in front of the teachers' table, where she put the pumpkin down on the floor, at the left end of the table. She turned it, so that the carved face with the mocking smile faced the room, and took two steps backwards. Then she swung her wand towards the pumpkin, and made it grow bigger, until it had the same size, as the gigantic pumpkin in the other end of the table.

She turned around and looked satisfied at the Great Hall. Malfoy, some of the teachers and herself had spend most of the day making everything perfect for the Halloween dinner that would start in a few hours.

Now that she was finished, she would find Ron and Harry, and be with them until the dinner started, and she had to return to her head girl-duties. But on her way towards the Gryffindor common room, she found herself allured to go to the heads' common room in stead. Maybe he was there…

She hadn't been thinking about anything but him since that night last week, even though they'd barely talked since.

Suddenly she found herself standing in front of the big Hogwarts logo that hid the heads' common room. She mumbled the new password ("sorting hat") and entered.

Malfoy was there. Even though she had hoped he'd be there, she hadn't been counting on it, so seeing him sit there made her freeze, unable to move another inch.

He was sitting in one of the armchairs with a book. When he heard her enter, he looked up, but then he quickly turned his eyes back to the page he was reading.

The door glided aside. Without thinking he looked up from the charms book, and her brown eyes met his. He didn't hesitate looking somewhere else, and focused his eyes on a random word in the book without reading it.

She didn't move; she just kept standing there at the door, as if she was waiting for him to look at her again.

Slowly he closed the book, and looked up once more. She looked amazing: The brown hair seemed a bit wind-swept. It was hanging loose, and covered her shoulders, and a thin, golden bow was holding it back from her eyes. A couple of red maple leaves were fixed under it.

Her cheeks were a little red, as if she'd just been outside.

"Hi," she whispered.

"I didn't expect you here…" he mumbled.

"Well, I didn't actually plan to go here…" she said, and her cheeks became a little redder.

"But you did…?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Well, it seems to be the case, doesn't it?"

He blushed and nodded. "I… I'm glad you did…" What was he doing!?

She smiled. "Me too." Finally she moved. She threw her warm outdoor cloak in the other chair and went to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water.

He looked at her back. The big, round curls in her hair were dancing at her every move. Slowly, not really sure what he was going to do, and very quiet he stood up and went over there…

Hermione took a glass, and filled it with cold water from the faucet. She took some big, thirsty swallows, and just as she down put the glass, she felt him grabbing her from behind; one hand on her hand, and the other one around her waist. She froze and let go of the glass. Suddenly his head was on her shoulder, his lips on the side of her neck.

She felt how she was starting to relax. He probably felt it too, because he kept kissing her neck for a while. Then he turned her around, looked into her eyes for a second that seemed to be an eternity, before he kissed her softly on her mouth.

All of a sudden, she could hear nothing but the blood rushing through her head, and his heavy, demanding breath. Her nose was filled with his smell – a rather special, light odour that reminded her of fresh, cold water and menthol.

But then pictures, pictures that she desperately tried to push away, appeared in her head; pictures of him being mean to Harry, Ron and herself, reminding her, what he'd been like through the last six and a half years. And the calming sounds of his breath and her own heartbeat drowned in the memory of his cold, contemptuous laugh.

What was she doing? She was kissing Draco Malfoy! She couldn't do that!

Quickly, she pushed him away and ran past him towards the door and went on running through it out into the hallway.

The door slammed shut, and Draco stared at it for a while. He should have known this would happen. 'But maybe,' a voice in his head said, 'this is best for everyone. You two can't be together – you never could. What will people say, it slips out?'

"No," he whispered. "No! It doesn't matter, what everyone else thinks! I'm… I'm in love with her, so to hell with everyone else!"

He ran out the door, and looked down the hallway. Where had she gone?

He heard two familiar voices: "… don't understand where she's gone! I haven't seen her since breakfast."

"No! We where supposed to meet almost half an hour ago! I can't believe she let us down like that!"

"Hmm… I don't know… It just isn't like Hermione to do that. I hope she's all right." Potter came around the corner just as he said these words to Weasley, who was walking next to him.

Draco had already taken on an indifferent expression, and was now leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

As soon as Potter and Weasley saw him, they started looking suspicious.

"Malfoy," Potter said, almost expressionlessly, but with a sharp undertone. "Have you seen Hermione?"

Draco rolled his eyes. Good Lord, he sounded like he suspected him for having thrown her into the lake, with a rock bound to her feet!

"No, I haven't, _Potter_," he sneered back. "And for your information, I'm not her babysitter. I can't be expected to keep an eye on Weasley's girlfriend _all_ the time, now can I?"

Weasley's face turned red, and he looked like he was going to attack him, but Potter was holding him back. "Forget it," he muttered to his friend. "Come on; let's go back to the common room. She can find us there, if she decides to show up."

They left, and Draco relaxed. Now he had to find Hermione. Where would she be going, if she was upset? The girls' bathroom? Hopefully not! And hopefully she hadn't returned to the Gryffindor tower either. Then suddenly it struck him: The library!

He turned around, and hurried down the hallway.


	8. Chapter 8 One Chance

**Chapter 8 – One chance**

Hermione looked thoughtfully out of the window. She was all alone in the library, not even Madam Pince seemed to be there, and she enjoyed the silence. She really needed to think.

Why had he kissed her? Why in the world would Draco Malfoy, the mean boy, who'd shown her no feelings but hatred for the last six and a half years, all of a sudden want to kiss _her_?

There was something wrong. There had to be! He had to have ulterior motives, or something!

A muted voice pulled her out of her thoughts: "Can I sit down?"

She turned around and froze. It was him again! Malfoy!

'NO!' a voice in her head screamed. 'NO, he can't sit down! Tell him to leave you alone!'

Nevertheless, she moved over on the windowsill, on which she was sitting, so that he could sit down next to her.

He gave her a wry smile, and sat down.

They just sat there for a while, avoiding to look at each other, but then Malfoy broke the silence: "I… I'm sorry… I shouldn't have…"

He didn't get to say more, because she suddenly burst out with the question that was bothering her so much: "Then why did you?"

This seemed to take him unawares, and it definitely threw him off balance. He sighed.

"To be honest with you: I couldn't help it. It just felt like… I had to kiss you."

This time it was Hermione's turn to be surprised. She hadn't seen that coming.

She responded by jumping up and taking a couple of steps away from him. "I want you to tell me what you're up to, Malfoy! I won't be a part of some game of yours and end up being totally humiliated!" She could feel the tears pressing in the corners of her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself down. She couldn't let him see her cry.

"I swear that it's not like that at all… Please," he stood up, walked towards her and took her hand and held it in both of his. "Just listen to me. I know I've never been very nice to you, and believe me, I never expected this to happen, but since I saw you leaning out of the Hogwarts Express on the first day of school this year, I just… I guess I just found myself going overboard for you."

Hermione sent him a sceptical look. What was she going to do? He seemed pretty sincere, but she still couldn't let go of the memories of all the things he's done to her.

Draco was confused, but also relieved. Now he had already told her too much, so he could as well tell her about all the feelings he had been trying to fight since the first day of school. "Hermione," he said. "You make my heart beat faster every time you look at me. You drive me mad. If I can't be with you, I'll go crazy! I've been a very bad person, but I've discovered that you're not only the most beautiful girl I've ever seen; you're also a sweet and caring and amazing person, for whom I am ready to change completely. Please, I beg you: Just one chance, to show you that I've changed, that's all I'm asking for."  
The look on her face changed from sceptical to astonished and then back to sceptical.  
"No," she whispered. "I can't do this. It's just wrong. I can't let go of the feeling that you're going to make a big fool out of me. You want me to trust you, but how the hell should I be able to do that? You've done nothing but hating me from the first time we met. Why would it suddenly be different?

And… I…" she started to sniffle a little. "I've just been hurt by someone I thought cared for me. I'm not ready to risk being hurt again. If you're not telling the truth, you can ruin everything for me. I mean… How can I know, that Crabbe and Goyle aren't hiding somewhere right now, nearly dieing laughing as they watch you make a fool of me if I give in to you!? I just can't believe that you're being honest with me."

Draco felt like his heart fell all the way down and landed somewhere in the bottom of his stomach.  
He moved closer to her, but she just kept backing away from him, the look on her face becoming more and more frightened.  
"I understand why you feel like that, but please just give me one chance," he said. "I swear that I…"

That was all he got to say, before she turned around and rushed out of the library.

Draco sighed and sat down on the windowsill again. He sat like that for a while staring out of the window. What an idiot he was! He shouldn't have told her those things! He should have known that she didn't feel the same way. Of course she didn't!  
He shook his head, got up and trudged back to the heads' common room.  
He lazed about in the warm room for a while thinking about what had just happened in the library. How stupid he had been. After a short time he leaned against some random wall, where he collapsed on the floor, crying silently.

Hermione drifted around in the hallways, trying to figure out what to do. Why had he kissed her? Had he really told her the truth? She had been wishing that he returned her feelings, but she'd never imagined that it would ever happen. Wasn't it too good to be true?

She suddenly remembered that she'd forgotten her cloak in the common room. Should she go back and get it? She turned around but stopped after taking a few steps. What it he was there?

She shook her head. That wasn't her problem. She couldn't avoid the common room forever.

So she went back there.

When she first entered the room she thought she was alone. But then she saw Malfoy sitting on the floor with his back leaned against the wall and his face hidden in his hands. It looked like he was trembling a little. He didn't realize she was there until she took a step towards the chair where she left her cloak. He looked at her in surprise. Then he became aware of the wet stripes down his cheeks and his red eyes. Quickly he got up, dried his eyes and turned towards the fireplace so she couldn't see his face anymore.  
"I'm sorry," she said. "I… forgot my cloak…"  
He nodded, still with his back towards her. Hermione quickly took the cloak and turned around to leave. "Wait…" he said hesitantly. They both turned around, facing each other.  
"It was foolish of me to say those things before. I'm sorry," he said. "I guess it was a little too optimistic of me to expect you to return my feelings. I hope we can just forget about it…"

She looked into his silver streaked eyes. There was suddenly something in them that told her, that he was telling the truth.  
She shook her head. "No," she whispered and walked towards him. "No, let's not forget about it."

She looked astonished, and she seemed a little unaware of what she was doing, as she went up to him, leaned forwards, stood on tiptoe and kissed him tenderly on the mouth.

"Incredible as it may sound," she whispered when she'd let him go. "I feel the exact same way about you. So I'll give you a chance… Draco." She smiled.

He breathed a sigh of relief and hugged her and as they stood there with their arms around each other, he whispered "Thank you," into her soft, fragrant hair.

"If you're deceiving me, I'll probably have to kill you," she muttered, still hugging him.

"Of course you will," he said and laughed subdued.

After a while, they let go of each other. Hermione looked at him intensively.

Draco opened his mouth. "Maybe," he said. "We should keep this a secret for a while. You know… keep a low profile. I don't think a lot of people will be rather delighted if they knew about us."

She thought about it for a while. Most of all she wanted to shout out as loud as she could, how incredibly crazy she was about him, but he was probably right. They had to tread cautiously, at least for a while. She nodded. "Yeah, that's probably for the best," she sighed. Then she smiled cunningly. "Good thing we have the heads' common room, though."

He laughed. They let themselves sink into the armchairs. At first the atmosphere was a little awkward, like none of them knew what to do next. After sitting in silence staring at each other for a while, they both started to laugh.

"Well…" Hermione said, trying to prevent herself from giggling. "This sure is weird, huh?"

"Kind of…" Draco answered with a wry smile. He stared at her again, but this time more affectionate than dubious. "You're so beautiful," he whispered.

She smiled, stood up and went to him. Then she sat down on his lap, laid her hands on each side of his face and kissed him warmly. Afterwards she nestled against his chest and felt his warm arms around her.

After sitting like that for a while, Draco said: "Potter and Weasley are looking for you. I met them earlier…"

She looked surprised. She'd totally forgotten about them! "Oh, no! I'll probably have to go, then!"

He laid his hand on the back of her head and kissed her once more. "Right," he said. "I'll see you at the party, then."

She nodded, kissed him on the cheek and left with her outdoor cloak on her arm. Now she just had to make up an excuse for Harry and Ron.


	9. Chapter 9 The Halloween Feast

**Chapter 9 – The Halloween feast**

All the way back to the Gryffindor tower, Hermione felt like she was flying. However, she was quickly pulled back down to Earth, when she saw Harry and Ron's angry faces. They were playing wizard's chess, and they looked up at her, as she entered the Gryffindor common room.

"Where have you been?!" Ron said loudly. He suddenly reminded Hermione of Mrs. Weasley. "We've been looking all over for you!"

"I… I'm sorry," she said. "I just… There was so much to do, you know, fixing up the Great Hall, and… Well, it just dragged on."

Both of the boys looked sceptical, but they didn't say anything, they just continued the game, as the pieces were starting to yell impatiently from the board.

Hermione grabbed a chair and pulled it over there. "Look boys, I'm so sorry. I really am. Please forgive me. We'll have a nice time now; there're still a couple of hours until the party starts." This mollified them a little, and they enjoyed themselves with chess, talking and taking a walk around the school before Hermione had to leave. She needed to be at the party a little earlier.

Draco entered the Great Hall. All the teachers and Dumbledore were already there, making sure that every single detail had been taken care of. The other students would be there in twenty minutes and everything had to be all set before they arrived.

Dumbledore looked at him as he entered, and he would have sworn that he just saw the old headmaster wink at him. He didn't have time to make sure, because now Professor McGonagall was walking towards him with hasty steps. "Mr. Malfoy" she said, looking rather stressed, her rectangular glasses a little lopsided on her nose. "Good you're here. Have you seen Miss Granger?"

He shook his head. "She'll probably be here in a minute or…"

"Sorry I'm late!" He was cut off by Hermione who just then came through the door. She sent him a rapid smile and looked at Professor McGonagall. "What are we going to take care of, Professor?"

Professor McGonagall looked a bit confused for a moment, she had obviously noticed the smile, but then she seemed to decide, that it had probably just been out of courtesy. She gave them a few instructions, and they started helping the teachers.

The Great Hall was humming with exited voices. The students had been looking forward to this feast, and as more and more of them entered through the big double doors, you could see the awe reflected in their faces. And that was understandably; the Great Hall looked amazing, covered in the autumn colours of different leaves and pumpkins, and lit by soft, orange candlelight. The sky of the enchanted ceiling was filled with soft, dark clouds, where you now and then could catch a glimpse of some shiny stars underneath the thick cloud cover.

Hermione found Ron and Harry, and sat down next to them, facing the rest of the hall, so that she could see the Slytherin table. From where she was sitting, she could just see Draco's blonde hair in the other end of the hall. But she had to be careful not to look over there too much. If Harry or Ron or anyone else saw it, they would just start asking questions.

When everybody was seated, Dumbledore stood up, and said a few words: "Welcome, welcome. You're probably all hungry, so without further fiddlesticks: Do help yourself!"

The most wonderful food appeared on the table and no one were reluctant to follow Dumbledore's request; everybody scooped food on their plates, as if it was their last meal.

When everybody was so stuffed with chicken drumsticks, pumpkin pie and mashed potatoes, that they might not be able to walk back to their dormitories, Dumbledore stood up once again, and requested order. Every one instantly became silent, and Dumbledore started speaking:

"Happy Halloween, my dear students! Halloween has always been one of my favourite times of the year, not just because of the wonderful food or the traditions, but also because Halloween always makes me think. Halloween is after all the party of those who are dead, and I always use Halloween to remember them.

You should do the same.

But we can't just be looking backwards this year; we'll also have to turn our eyes forward to protect ourselves and others. Lord Voldemort is, as you all know, still out there, and even though it's been a while since the last time he drew attention to himself, we can't be careful enough.

This is a time, where we'll have to stick together, and therefore I want to call for solidarity and understanding between all students, also those in different houses. If everyone sticks together, evil will be much, much weaker than you are. So student, I will call for cooperation between the houses. Even though you're different, it's important, that you also make friends from other houses. I'm aware that some of you," he glanced around at all the faces in the Great Hall, and met Hermione's eyes. He continued: "have already found new friends in other houses this year, and I can only encourage this. So student, please stick together in these hard times. But now you all look tired, and you probably can't stand listening to a tedious, old fogey like me anymore. Go to your dormitories and get a good night's sleep. Thank you for a magnificent evening!"

Hermione took absentminded part in the applauses. It had seemed to her that Dumbledore's eyes had been fixed on her a little longer, than on the other students. Did he know about Draco and her?


	10. Chapter 10 Doubt

**Chapter 10 – Doubt**

Hermione was sitting in one of the big armchairs with her legs folded below her, warming her hands on a cup of hot chocolate. She had just told Draco about the way Dumbledore had looked at her at Halloween. He looked thoughtful. After a few moments, when Hermione didn't think he was going to say anything at all, he opened his mouth: "I'm not sure but…I think he looked at me that way too. You know… Like he pierced me with the look of his eyes."

"Exactly," she said. "Do you think… Do you think he knows? About us, I mean?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

Hermione frowned thoughtfully. "Who knows? Maybe he knows about most of the things going on at Hogwarts. I find that most likely, actually."

He nodded. "Well, if he does know, it doesn't really matter, does it? I mean, he did say that it was important to get to know students from other houses."

"You're right." She smiled. "Maybe we should get through some of the paperwork. Professor McGonagall gave me this huge heap of documents to sort out alphabetically."

Acting like they still hated each other wasn't as easy as Hermione had thought. Every time she saw Draco she just wanted to smile all over her face, and give him a kiss. But that had to wait until they were alone in the heads' common room. When they met in the hallways or had classes together she had to act cold and dismissive, and that was unfortunately quite often. This year, in fact, the Gryffindors and the Slytherins had almost all their classes together.

"You wouldn't think it would be so difficult to act exactly like we've always done, would you?" Draco sighed, as he plumped into one of the big arm chairs in the heads' common room a couple of days later. He swung his legs over one armrest and leaned his head against the other, so he was looking at her upside down.

Hermione laughed at the sight of the many locks of hair that was working randomly loose because of the unaccustomed posture of his head.

"No, seriously!" he said, as if he thought that it was what he said that had made her laugh. "It's not more than a couple of months ago since I would have sworn that I was able to find an insult for you in any given situation. Now it's just… different."

Hermione nodded, as she kneeled down on the floor next to him, gently stroking his blonde, shining hair with her hand. "You're right," she whispered. "I've been thinking the same thing. But we'll just have to focus."

"Mmh," he mumbled thoughtfully. "But it's just… hard for me, you know! To have to be so mean to you all the time! I don't want to call you names or push you or…" he sighed. "It just really makes me feel bad."

She sent him a gentle look and kissed him while his head was still upside down. "Don't be sad," she muttered with her face still close to his. "I know you don't mean a word of it."

Even though he seemed a little more relaxed, he still kept frowning thoughtfully.

Draco noticed that walking down the hallways flanked by Crabbe and Goyle didn't feel like it used to anymore. Before, the two massive bodies had provided him with security, protection. They used to make him feel like he could handle anything. That he could say and do almost whatever he wanted and get away with it. Now it was different. His two followers were actually starting to annoy him; they were there all the time, watching his every step. He couldn't afford to make any mistakes in the way he treated Hermione, they would notice it right away.

The three of them was walking down a 3rd floor hallway. Crabbe and Goyle were having one of their usual discussions about what they didn't understand in the previous lesson of History of Magic.

Draco wasn't really listening, he was staring out the windows as they passed, watching the first snow of the year fall quietly over the grounds. Then he heard a voice that made his heart skip a beat.

"Come on guys, listen to me: I've had a lot of head girl duties lately, that's why I haven't been spending so much time with you!" Hermione sounded offended, but Draco could still sense the lie in her voice. He hoped that Potter and Weasley hadn't noticed. He turned his face away from the windows and saw the three Gryffindors walking towards him from the other end of the hallway.

Hermione's arms were crossed tightly around a thick book, and she looked quite furious.

"It sounds like a bad excuse!" Weasley said. "Are you sure you don't have a secret boyfriend or something? Maybe you're just using those head girl-stories as a cover, and…"

"And so what if I do?" Hermione broke in, in a challenging tone.

"Ron!" Potter hissed, and pushed his friend in the ribs with his elbow. "Let it go, okay?"

"No I won't!" Weasley hissed back. They were very close to Draco now, but none of them seemed to notice. He had to save Hermione, before she lost her temper, and gave them away.

"Come on," he mumbled to Crabbe and Goyle, who looked exited. Draco sped up, and pushed Hermione with his shoulder as he passed the three of them.

"AUCH!" she said angrily. Then she realized who he was, and stared at him. Then she seemed to remember what to do: "What do you think you're doing, Malfoy!?" she hissed and gave him a furious look.

"It's not my fault that you're in my way, Granger!" Draco said in his most unpleasant sneer as Hermione bent down to pick up the book that she had dropped.

"You'll pay for that, Malfoy!" Potter growled. He and Weasley were already pointing their wands at him.

"Don't," Hermione muttered to them. "It's just a waste of time."

Draco shook his head at Crabbe and Goyle, who were also drawing their wands. They looked confused, and Draco realized that it wasn't a very Draco Malfoy-ish thing to do, so he added: "I think I can handle the mudblood by myself."

Crabbe and Goyle laughed, Potter and Weasley, who had just stuffed their wands back in their pockets, were drawing their wands again and Hermione was scowling at him. He thought her eyes had become a little wet, but he wasn't sure. Had he gone to far this time?

Then, before anyone had time to react, she turned around on her heel. "Come on, guys. Like I said, he's not even worth the time it takes to jinx him." Potter and Weasley hesitated, but finally they decided that Hermione was probably right, and followed her.

"Yeah, run away before you get hurt!" Draco called after the Gryffindors. He felt bad about what he'd said; he knew that he had to talk to her. "Oh, and Granger!?" he added. "Extra heads meeting tonight, remember?" She pretended like she didn't hear him, and Draco watched her back as she walked away.

"I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time today," Draco said, as he sat down in his armchair.

"It's okay," she said with a wry smile. "I know you had to interrupt before I let my tongue run away with me."

She didn't seem okay, though, he thought. Draco sighed. "I wish this didn't have to be this hard!" He hid his face in his hands and sighed again. Then he looked at her. She had tear in her eyes. "Me too," she whispered. "Sometimes…" she hesitated. It seemed like the words wouldn't leave her throat. "Sometimes I wonder… if it's really worth it."

Draco stared at her. He couldn't believe his own ears. He didn't know what to say. "Do… do you really mean that?" he finally managed to falter out.

Hermione seemed just as surprised at her words as him. Now the tears started trickling down her cheeks.

Draco got up and hugged her. Hermione sobbed at his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she cried. "I didn't mean it, I… I love you!"

Draco let go of her, at looked at her tearful face. She was so beautiful. "I love you too," he whispered and hugged her again. He didn't know how long they stood there, her with her head resting against his shoulder, him holding her close and stroking her thick, brown hair.


	11. AN

A/N:

Hi there.

I haven't been using my account for quite a while. I want to get started again, but some of my old fanfics don't really interest me anymore, mostly since they're outdated compared to canon, and because I have improved my English and my writing since I started them.

This fanfic is one of them, and unless there are a fair amount of people who want me to continue writing, I probably won't. If you do want me to continue this story, please write it in a review, and I'll reconsider. Also, if that is the case, I'll probably spend some time updating the previous chapters and correct mistakes before I post anything new.

I hope you will read some of the new stuff I'll hopefully be posting soon.

Best regards


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